Louisville Appears to Be Implicated in Paying 5-Star Recruit Brian Bowen $100K
As the world continues to unwrap the fallout from the FBI investigation into intertwined corruption in the college basketball and apparel industries, three separate prominent reporters — NYT’s Andrew Das, Yahoo’s Jeff Eisenberg, and Dana O’Neil formerly of ESPN and soon to be of The Athletic — have read through the lines and deduced that Louisville’s recent recruitment of 5-star recruit Brian Bowen appears to not have been on the up-and-up:
Also names Oklahoma State assistant and an Adidas exec.
— Andrew Das (@AndrewDasNYT) September 26, 2017
This is what allegedly went on that the school that appears to be Louisville. 100k funneled to a recruit in exchange for commitment. pic.twitter.com/gyzkKaTcfM
— Jeff Eisenberg (@JeffEisenberg) September 26, 2017
Reading through US Attorney report and deciphering lawyer speak. Accusations appear to include Louisville recruitment of Brian Bowen
— Dana O'Neil (@DanaONeilWriter) September 26, 2017
FWIW, the head coach didn't know defense is officially off the table for this one. This is the FBI, the US Attorney and plus $100K.
— Dana O'Neil (@DanaONeilWriter) September 26, 2017
That last tweet from O’Neil refers to how Rick Pitino slithered out of Louisville’s prostitution scandal comparatively unscathed. Ironically, Pitino griped in 2014 that the shoe companies were too influential in recruiting. Also, LOL:
Rick Pitino literally bragged about having to spend zero dollars to get Brian Bowen when he actually paid 100K behind the scenes. pic.twitter.com/Zn4z6MxuuQ
— Eric Fawcett (@Efawcett7) September 26, 2017
I feel a bit queasy touting this FBI investigation. Who gets harmed when major corporations funnel $100k to families of elite players? Don’t we think a lot of these top-tier athletic schools are cheating on a level playing field? If there were an open market, didn’t Louisville (allegedly) get a bargain on Bowen? You can bet your bottom dollar that if these allegations are true Pitino will be one of the crown jewel fall guys in this probe.